104 fH INDIAN INSECTS, [CHAP. XI. 



istency. Immediately the boiling begins to subside, more cold 

 water must be added at once to prevent further action taking place, 



ii the boiling is continued too long, the resultant liquid will 

 burn foliage. Tins solution is diluted to form 100 gallons. 



Flour-Paste is a very simple and cheap spray-liquid which is 

 effective against small insects without any injury to vegetation. It 

 peels off after a day or two and leaves the growing surfaces of the 

 plants free and healthy. It is made simply by making an ordinary 

 flour-paste of one pound of flour in one gallon of water; for use as 

 a spray this is diluted to .1 strength ol about eighl to ten parts in 

 one hundred of spray-material. Mixed with Flowers of Sulphur at 

 the rate of about a pound and a half to ten gallons, flour-paste is 

 an excellent remedy against Mites but does not always kill the 

 eggs so that a second application i> necessary after an interval of 

 about a week. 



Flour-Paste is also very effective for use with Lead Arsenate, 

 Lead Chromate, etc.. as a spreader, ensuring that the poison is 

 applied evenly over the foliage. 



Potassium Cyanide is too poisonous a substance for direct appli- 

 cation to plants as a spray, but is useful for checking ants, which 

 may be nesting in fields and bunds and cherishing Aphids and 

 Scales. Poured into their nests at a strength of one ounce to the 

 gallon of water, it either kills off the nest or at least disables it for 

 some time. 



Soap, simply dissolved in water, is sometimes valuable as a con- 

 tact insecticide, especially against small and soft-bodied insects. 

 Ordinary bar soap, obtainable in any bazaar, can be used if no 

 more nauseous brand be available. At a strength of one pound to 

 one gallon of water it acts as a contact poison, and at one pound 

 to ten gallons it may be used for watering lawns or flower-beds 

 to drive down grubs which are eating the roots of grass or plants ; 

 but the amount of dilution must depend largely on the composition 

 of the soap. 



Fish Oil Soap, or Whale Oil Soap is far preferable to ordinary 

 hard soap for use against insects. It may be made by adding six 

 pounds of caustic soda to one and one-fifth gallons of boiling 

 water and, when the soda is dissolved, pouring in twenty-two pounds 

 of fish-oil, stirring and boiling slowly, after which the mixture is 

 allowed to cool, when the soap separates out. 



Fish Oil Soap and Tobacco Extract is excellent against Aphids 

 and small soft-bodied insects. It is prepared by dissolving one 

 pound of fish-oil soap in ten gallons oi wat< r and adding one pint of 

 good tobacco extract. 



